Boston Police sergeant sues department over demotion following appointment to police oversight panel
The command staff, composed of deputy superintendents and superintendents, are appointees of the commissioner. These ranks are separate from the civil service ranks, which including officer, sergeant, lieutenant, and captain.
Chrispin said he was told that he 'couldn't serve two masters.' Chrispin is the former president of the Massachusetts Association of Minority Law Enforcement Officers, and he and Cox are both Black.
Chrispin did not step down from POST. Cox removed him from the command staff last July, returning him to his previous rank of sergeant detective.
'I was deeply honored to accept Attorney General Campbell's appointment to the POST Commission which allows me to weigh-in on cases of misconduct and enlighten POST on matters of policing that come from firsthand lived experience as a Haitian immigrant, a Black man, and a veteran member of law enforcement,' Chrispin said in a statement Thursday.
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Attorneys at Lawyers for Civil Rights and Conn Kavanaugh Rosenthal Peisch & Ford filed suit against Cox in the commissioner's personal and professional capacities, according to a copy of a lawsuit. Chrispin is seeking to be reinstated to deputy superintendent and awarded back pay.
Chrispin remains on the POST commission, according to its website.
The Boston Police Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Thursday.
Last summer, a police department spokesperson said Chrispin's account was 'not accurate,' but declined to comment further. A department official also said that serving on the state panel would give him access to sensitive internal information about BPD officers he wouldn't otherwise have.
At the time,
'I believe that for our leaders to do well, in any organization and what I've seen in the public sector and in city government, management matters, organizational health matters,' she said.
Sean Cotter can be reached at
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